Senator Clinton Introduces Legislative Initiatives to Help Restore the Promise of Rural America

Press Release

Senator Clinton Introduces Legislative Initiatives to Help Restore the Promise of Rural America

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, continuing her long-standing efforts to restore the promise of rural and small-town America, today introduced a package of legislation addressing some of the most urgent needs facing rural communities. The legislation will help create good jobs, develop new sources of capital, and invest in education, healthcare, broadband, and agriculture to grow local economies and restore the promise of America's rural communities and small towns.

"Insuring that we keep rural America prospering is an important goal for our country. Whether it's places to grow businesses or grow fresh foods, new kinds of renewable energy or long-held values, many of the solutions to the challenges we face as a nation can be found in our small towns and rural areas," said Senator Clinton. "It's time to create jobs and renew the promise of rural communities by investing in broadband, biofuels and renewable energy, agriculture, healthcare, education, and new sources of capital to bring the Information Age economy to every corner of our country."

Senator Clinton today introduced a series of bills focused on investing in rural America, including:

• The Rural Investment to Strengthen our Economy Act (Rural RISE Act). The Rural RISE Act will help spur rural economic development by expanding access to capital and strategic advice for rural entrepreneurs and small businesses. The legislation will help create a more efficient grant process for small businesses through a National Board on Rural America, which will develop a national strategic investment plan, oversee the disbursement of all planning and innovation grants, and submit an annual report on program performance.

The bill will also bring together businesses, colleges and universities to help develop and implement effective programs to ensure workers have the training needed to compete in the global economy. The bill also provides small business tax credits to increase wages and raise low job growth rates by creating a special classification of employer tax credit for small businesses that locate in rural counties.

• The Rural Broadband Initiatives Act. This legislation will extend and improve access to broadband services in small towns across America. It creates a policy and action framework to ensure that the federal government employs an effective and comprehensive strategy to deploy broadband service and access in the rural areas of the United States. The bill will also establish a Rural Broadband Innovation fund to explore and develop cutting edge broadband delivery technologies to reach underserved rural areas. The Rural Broadband Initiatives Act has been endorsed by the Communications Workers of America.

• The School Food Fresh Act. The School Food Fresh Program will coordinate and better direct the commodity foods programs for school children by linking local and regional farmers with local schools. The program is similar to Farm to Fork, an initiative established by Senator Clinton that links New York State growers, distributors, retailers, restaurateurs, and others to expand markets for New York's diverse array of agricultural products, particularly in downstate regions such as New York City. The legislation also creates a taskforce that will be responsible for making the commodity foods programs more efficient and beneficial. Thirdly, the School Food Fresh Act will establish a grants program to evaluate and recommend product specifications for a variety of different commodities used in United States Department of Agriculture feeding programs.

Senator Clinton has been a tireless advocate of restoring the promise of rural and small town America. She has worked to expand access to broadband and spur innovative strategies for rural economic development. In a major speech last year, Senator Clinton addressed the many challenges facing rural communities and called for new strategies to preserve the quality of life and keep good jobs in rural and small-town communities. Senator Clinton first introduced the Rural Broadband Initiatives Act during the 109th Congress.

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